# Last wedding you attended: who did the ceremony? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 18, 2015, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-wedding-you-attended-who-did-the-ceremony/734967 "2015-10-18T01:32:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-wedding-you-attended-who-did-the-ceremony/734967/41 "2015-10-20T15:24:51Z")
Celebrant’s name given, but no credentials. She knew what she was doing. Not in a church, God wasn’t mentioned. Made a splash anyway. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-wedding-you-attended-who-did-the-ceremony/734967/42 "2015-10-20T16:02:14Z")
I only go to the reception usually, but the last three wedding ceremonies I did attend the officiant was me, in my capacity as a minister of the Universal Life Church. Bless you all! ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-wedding-you-attended-who-did-the-ceremony/734967/43 "2015-10-20T17:46:49Z")
The county Sheriff, but not sure what category that would fit. ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-wedding-you-attended-who-did-the-ceremony/734967/44 "2015-10-20T18:22:08Z")
Lutheran service. This girl married a man 30 years her senior. Her father and new husband looked like they could be twins. Very creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Reluctant\_A](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@Reluctant\_A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reluctant_A)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-wedding-you-attended-who-did-the-ceremony/734967/45 "2015-10-20T20:29:14Z")
I last went to my best friend’s wedding. One of his other friends (who is not a pastor, AFAIK) presided over the wedding. Would he count as a non-religious officiant? ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-wedding-you-attended-who-did-the-ceremony/734967/46 "2015-10-20T20:32:06Z")
Quaker service. No officiant. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-wedding-you-attended-who-did-the-ceremony/734967/47 "2015-10-20T21:16:08Z")
The last wedding I attended was our own. Since we’re both atheists, a judge officiated. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-wedding-you-attended-who-did-the-ceremony/734967/48 "2015-10-21T01:06:35Z")
In my life I can remember attending just two weddings that were not performed by some sort of religious leader/official. Both of those were very small (less than 10 people present) and both officiated by a civic leader/judge. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-wedding-you-attended-who-did-the-ceremony/734967/49 "2015-10-21T19:22:36Z")
The last wedding I attended was last month, and I don’t know anything about the officiant other than he was pretty entertaining. I was introduced but I don’t recall his name. The wedding couple are not at all religious. I can only remember a couple of weddings that were held in church or by a religious official. The wedding ceremony for my first marriage was performed by a notary public and his dog; for my current marriage we got some Universal Life guy. Neither ceremony mentioned anything about deities. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-wedding-you-attended-who-did-the-ceremony/734967/50 "2015-10-21T21:17:14Z")
I"m confused by the poll - what is the difference between “government official” and “non-religious officiant” - where I come from, it’s either a clergy type person, or a government appointed official. What is a non-religious officiant who is not appointed by the gov’t? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-wedding-you-attended-who-did-the-ceremony/734967/51 "2015-10-21T21:45:01Z")
Indian ceremony, so non-Christian officiant. But I’m in the industry and the slight majority of my clients are Indian. Of the non-Indian clients, I would say it’s fairly evenly distributed among the rest. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-wedding-you-attended-who-did-the-ceremony/734967/52 "2015-10-21T21:51:50Z")
The past few have been in Vermont, where anyone can be the officiant for the day. Two friends - a third friend did it Friend (brother 1 of 3) - a friend of theirs Friend (brother 2 of 3) - had brother 3 do his Friend (brother 3 of 3) - a friend of theirs I voted Other. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-wedding-you-attended-who-did-the-ceremony/734967/53 "2015-10-22T00:56:21Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I"m confused by the poll - what is the difference between “government official” and “non-religious officiant” - where I come from, it’s either a clergy type person, or a government appointed official. What is a non-religious officiant who is not appointed by the gov’t? Well, as mentioned, in my case it was my mother-in-law. That’s just the tradition in her culture (ethnic Teochew Chinese). Of course, the Thai government does not recognize that type of ceremony. Or any other ceremony. In the eyes of Thai law, you’re not married until you have registered as man and wife at a local district office, ceremony or no ceremony. That’s what we did a few weeks before our ceremony. We registered in late April, so as far as the Thai and US governments are concerned, that’s our marriage date. However, families here do not recognize that. In their eyes, only the ceremony counts and nothing else. We had the ceremony in mid-June, and as far as the family is concerned, _that’s_ when we became man and wife, and it’s still when we celebrate our anniversary too. Despite having our marriage registered in April, her family would not allow her to live with me – this despite her being in her 30s and a government official! – until after the wedding ceremony in June. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-wedding-you-attended-who-did-the-ceremony/734967.md?page=2)